This invention relates generally to process controls and more specifically to controlling a process by remotely controlling a programmable logic controller.
Companies can incur great expense when one or more processes are not working correctly or not working at all due to a simple failure or fault within the control system. Maintaining an on site engineer to monitor the process and make the appropriate correction is expensive and time consuming. Known methods of diagnosing and correcting control system faults remotely, typically require that an engineer handling the remote corrections have the proper PLC data available to him and is aware of the problem. There is a need for an off site engineer to have the capability to remotely monitor the operation of a PLC, obtain the proper PLC data that allows the engineer to become aware of a problem, diagnose control system failures and faults, and remotely adjust the operation of the PLC.